Arts Hound

Maude Kerns is presenting its 14th biennial (and beloved) Oregon Made for Interiors furniture exhibit, with an opening reception from 6 to 8 pm Friday, May 17. We’re not talking La-Z-Boys and bean bags; the pieces displayed are bonafide objets d’art that you can sit in or at. The juried show will feature the work of 39 artists, many who use recycled and repurposed materials, from around the state through June 21.

The always avant-garde Eugene ContemporaryArt is holding the first open studio for its third “Public Process” artist in residence, Damon Harris, 7 to 8 pm Thursday, May 16. Here is your moment to demystify the artistic process and ask the artist questions. Need some icebreakers? According to ECA, Harris’ work focuses on “the postulation of utopias” and the “apprehension of mortality.” Talk amongst yourselves.

In the words of U2, Oh Berlin. Get a taste of the art capital here in Eugene Saturday, May 18, with the UO School of Architecture and Allied Arts’ German Expressionism conference featuring Northwestern Professor Emeritus of German Rainer Rumold and the UO Professor of Art History Sherwin Simmons. The centerpiece of the Jordan Schnizter’s complementary exhibit is Max Pechstein’s double-sided 1912 oil painting “Ballet Dancers/Two Women in Lamplight.” Pechstein was a member of Die Brücke, an artist group that pushed Modern Art to its limits by employing vibrant colors, loose brushstrokes and primitivist forms. Pechstein is in excellent company; the exhibit also features works by Wassily Kandinksy (a master of color theory), Paul Klee (a cubist and surrealist) and Franz Marc (you’ve seen his dreamy horse paintings like “Die großen blauen Pferde”). For more info, visit aaa.uoregon.edu/node/2135.

Flower Power! In concurrence with the Mt. Pisgah Flower and Music Festival May 19, the Karin Clarke Gallery’s ongoing (through May 31) exhibit The Wildflowers of Oregon features the work of 12 national and local artists.

Love our “Hello, Dalai!” cover from last week’s issue (5/9)? You’re not alone. The English-born, Arizona-based artist Frank Balaam created the portrait of His Holiness, “Universal Peace,” with the tenets of Buddhism in mind. Balaam tells EW, “Each brushstroke has its own place in the grand plan of the canvas, and if it were not to occupy its space on the canvas then the world would be incomplete.” At least it’s an ethos. To see more of his kaleidoscopic canvases, visit frankbalaam.com.